Thursday, 22 January 2015

1983: ON SALE THIS MONTH: SPIKE Issue 1 (DC Thomson)

On sale this month in 1983: the first issue of D.C Thomson's boys anthology weekly SPIKE.

This passed me by entirely at the time, it didn't really stand a chance of catching my attention up against Marvel UK and IPC's books. I was never much of a DC Thomson fan (with the exception of a few issues of WARLORD and NUTTY) so there was no loyalty... and no appeal.

It ran for 67 issues, between 22 January 1983 (today!) and 28 April 1984.

It's hard to look at the character Spike as anything but a modern-day version of Dennis the Menace, someone to whom readers could relate. Let's face it, Dennis was firmly entrenched in the parochial mould into which he'd been created and shows every sign of remaining so. The titular character was about all the comic had going for it, as you've reminded me the artwork was fairly execrable. One wonder if Tony Tiger had any comments on Spike's catchphrase...

SLOW ROBOT

Welcome to STARLOGGED!
It's a repository, and celebration, of Geek Media (mostly print) from the 'Star Age': that pre-millennial period between, roughly, 1972 (the opening of Marvel UK) and 1999 (the release of The Phantom Menace... and the end of innocence). But, of course, we'll bend the rules when we want to.
I only reproduce long out-of-print items for historical reference. I don't include anything that's currently in-print, is likely to be reprinted or otherwise commercially exploited by the copyright holder.
Comments and contributions are most welcome.